


This Old Town- A Shane/Reader Fic

by SkeletonHusbands



Category: Stardew Valley
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 03:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6221917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkeletonHusbands/pseuds/SkeletonHusbands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You detour from your nightly duties to have a chat with a sullen friend on the docks of town</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Old Town- A Shane/Reader Fic

To be honest, you didn’t even mean to meet with Shane at the docks by Leah’s house. You had just wanted to go foraging for grapes and berries after a long day in the mines. Your face and clothes were dusty, your haphazardly slapped on eye makeup was smudged, and your mind was entirely preoccupied until he caught your eye. His figure was illuminated by the moon at the end of the dock, as quiet as the lake below his feet. “Shane?” you said, mouth pulling into a smile as all thoughts of food left your mind to go start towards him. He peeked over his shoulder, giving a cold chuckle. “I was afraid it was you.” He said, turning back towards his drink as the teasing insult slid off you with ease. With the light of the moon illuminating his face, you were reminded again what a damn wasted beauty he was. Not that you cared or anything but it always pulled you in how those heavy set eyes, that shadow on his jaw, that dark thick hair would look if cared after by a sober man. You plopped beside him, nudging your backpack away, feeling a bit giddy. Seeing Shane alone was always a treat and you felt it lessened the probability of his grumpiness coming out to play. You had no clue what drew you to him (especially since you actively avoided him your first few days here) but nonetheless, it was nice to catch this moment with him.

A cold bottle bumped against your arm. “Here, you can’t hang with me and be sober like that.” He said, smiling mischievously and you giggled, screwing the cap off the top. “Whatever you want.” You replied, tipping the sour liquor back into your throat. You shuddered at the harsh taste but kept it down, savoring one of the rare times you were really allowed to drink. He made a content sound and turned away to continue nursing his own drink. You could see by his eyes that it was still early in his drinking game and for the time being, you would still be handling his sober self under his drunk self. The silence hung on for a bit as the two of you drank more and more, you becoming rapidly more drunk than your partner as the alcohol hit your empty stomach with every sip. 

“So. How’s things with Elliot?” Shane asked, causing your head to jerk up. “Oh! They’re, uhm, okay...” you started, gulping a sip back nervously. You forgot you told Shane last you had a lonely night to yourselves that you were going to pursue Elliot as a date mate. He didn’t seem very convinced by your nervous tone and propping his chin up with the palm of his hand as he stared you down. “Really. ‘Cause he didn’t seem all that pleased to see you in the market today.” You bristled at the accusation and opened your mouth to retort with a prepared line about how your wonderful poet was just a bit aloof, how you clashed with your introverted and extroverted nature. What came out instead was “Everyone in this town is like that when they see me.”

Those were the wrong words to say. You went pale as Shane widened his eyes a bit and you quickly occupied your mouth with more liquor, avoiding his gaze. “C’mon, don’t say that.” He scoffed, eyes rolling a bit. “People here like you just fine. You’re always working so hard for them, how can they not?” He didn’t like how quiet you were now, your hair blocked your face from his view. “This place might be...odd but everyone here likes you just fine.” He urged slightly, feeling a pain as he remembered the way most of the town saw him.

You turned to him, eyes wide, the drunk fog in your mind hiding your insecurity of letting yourself be seen crying. Your vision blurred with black tears as your makeup ran and poked at your eyes but you were too overcome with a flood of emotion to care. “I...I just, screw up so much Shane. Every time I think I get it with him or her or anyone, it falls apart.” You messily wiped at the tears on your face, smudging the dirt around your cheeks with it, body shaking slightly at the intensity growing inside you. “And there’s no way for me to fix things when they go bad! It’s always a black dot on our relationship and I just want this town to love me.” You cast your eyes away, staring at the dark water and the way your boots looked against it. “The worst part is no matter how hard I push myself to make someone love me, it feels wrong. Like I’m settling for something second rate. And that’s why I left my life so long ago, Shane. So I could live fully and happily and now I don’t even get to because I spend my days searching for the approval of people I don’t even really want the approval of!” At some point you hit Shane’s shoulder in a spasm of heartbroken passion but that was the only thing that got through your head as your rant finally spiraled down. You hunched over, silently wallowing in your own aching head, sniffling and pouting at the fireflies that went past your vision.

You didn’t notice the way he looked at you. Eyes wide, wider than you would have ever seen them. His mouth pulled into a shocked frown, thick eyebrows raised so high his forehead scrunched. Even if you did look, you wouldn’t see the blush on his face or the way his fingers clutched tighter around his sleeve, a long finger tugging a small tear bigger and bigger. By only getting eerily close would you be able to feel the heat radiating off him as he silently burned by your side. And nothing except his own mouth could make you see the way his insides were churning. His heart was pounding so loudly and he had sobered up so fast he felt sick to his stomach. He couldn’t move his eyes from your tear wrecked face, ears still ringing with your words. How long had it been since he had someone so passionate in this complacent town? How long had it been since someone completely tore down their walls in front of him without shame? It was as though you were stark nude on those docks, a strip show with every angry word that left your mouth. He was moved. He was touched. He was absolutely blown away by you and he couldn’t unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth to say a single damn thing.

The silence was heavy between you as you drank from your bottle and he drank in the sight of you raw and heavy. The crickets seemed to be watching with anticipation, muting their mating calls to watch the spectacle in front of them. With a rough clear of his throat, he finally spoke to you, voice dry and raspy. “I, uh...that’s really something.” It was maybe the most pathetic thing he could say and your deadpan stare as you tilted your head to look at him left him to scramble desperately for a better choice. “I mean, shit, okay, hold on. It’s just...I forget people don’t just absorb this town immediately. I mean, I haven’t. I still feel like I’m sitting on the surface. But you’re not even in the ocean yet. You see shit I forgot to even look at.” He smiles weakly, reaching out to grab your shoulder. You melted in his hand, his fingers rough and toasty on your goose bumped shoulder. “Heh, I forgot how much this town can be just real jerks to people who don’t instantly fit in.” You nodded your head, scooching closer to him with little grace as your jeans snagged on the rough wood of the dock.  
“Y-yeah...like, how am I supposed to always know the right thing to say? The right gift to give, the right time to speak up?” You said, suddenly meek and back to your roots of seeking Shane’s approval. Your eyes were wide and he felt vaguely uncomfortable, locked into your needy stare. But he let himself stare back, hardening his eyes. “Exactly. So I don’t blame you. You’re really strong and special for saying this. Especially to me.” The hardness in his eyes gleamed away and he glanced away. Fuck, now he was shy. Where was his testosterone when he needed it? “I...I don’t know why you told me but-.” “Don’t be fucking dumb.” You cut in, waving a hand in front of his face to stop his train of thought. “I always got along with you, even when you didn’t want me to. You are a simple human being Shane. You want your liquor, your pizza, and for someone to accommodate what you want. Everyone is so...pretentious! And wants complicated things! But you just want simple shit and I can do simple shit and I’m good enough to you for that.” Your eyes were filling with tears again and your hands rushed to grab at his hand still on your shoulder.

That uncomfortable sensation was back and he couldn’t control his mouth popping open a bit as you clung to his hand. “Well! I just! You uh...you don’t really think...” He trailed off as he took in your face again and sighed. It was useless. Even if it was just the alcohol making you talk, there was no getting through to you. You were convinced your feelings were real and that’s what mattered. So with a long inhale, he took both his hands and cupped your face. “You are good enough and not just to me. You have a future. You have potential. You have a life to live and whoever can be in that life is god damn lucky.” He mentally pat himself on the back for his pep talk but he froze as he saw your eyes glazed over, the heat from your cheeks increasing as you gave a small squeak of shyness. You hadn’t taken in a single word he said. You were too distracted by his hands on your cheeks, pinkies so close to your lips, and oh my god were your knees touching. Like a rush of brilliance, it hit you! This was it! He was the one! This is what you were looking for all this time! The adrenaline in your body kicked in and your brain was throwing confetti into your rationale. It was his stubble you dreamt of, his tired eyes, his whiskey breath, everything could be solved if you just-!  
The hands on your face dropped sharply and latched onto your shoulders, stopping your sudden lurch forward, head rocking sharply. “No. No no no. Now I know you’ve had too much.” Shane said. You whined loudly and the tears came back in hundreds and you let your arms go limp, letting his arms hold you up. Your empty bottle landed in the lake with a dull thud as your shoulders shook under his fingers. Of course you had no idea that your thoughts were telegraphing across your face blatantly and no clue of the wave of fear that hit him as he realized he shared the same spike in feeling of as you. Shane groaned softly and swung his legs up from the edge of the dock. “C’mon, beautiful.” He said, voice straining as he begun to stand, heaving you up with him. You were like floppy dead weight in his arms and you couldn’t even muster the care that he was essentially dragging you back to your farm along with your backpack. You were too busy sobbing, sobbing over this cold town, sobbing over the realization that all you wanted was the one person you couldn’t have, sobbing over how you left a stable family and job for this crazy never ending ride.

You managed to raise your feet to climb the steps (a blessing to Shane who was beginning to question if his beer gut and under used muscles could lift you to your bed) and you shoved open the door with your whole body. He didn’t step inside, just tossed your backpack inside and watched you with narrowed eyes as you fell face down onto your bed, your room barely lit with the full moon in your window. “Take your shoes off.” He said, looking at the threshold with concern but you obliged with loud whimpers to kick your shoes off. You didn’t know when your crying eventually bled into sleep but you were knocked out at some point, snoring loudly. Shane stood in your doorway, watching you for who knows how long, trying not to let the voices in his head take meaning. Eventually he softly closed your door and started down the path home, the still half full bottle hanging loosely from his fingers.

He knew he didn’t deserve you. He didn’t deserve your friendship. He didn’t deserve you as a drinking partner even. He especially did not deserve to let his own feelings gain control. He wanted to kiss you back there with everything in him from the moment you faced him with that crying face. But with your combined drunkenness and his fear of emotional attachment, he knew it couldn’t happen. You deserved Elliot or anyone else’s affections in this valley. Stable people, happy people, people who could healthily hold a relationship with you. No staying up all night, waiting for him to come home from the bar. No fights on how your needs weren’t being met because you were so involved in helping him. No crying over relapses, no fits of anger that made you scared enough to pack your things, no moments where you pushed his shaking hands off you as he tried to apologize. He froze in his tracks, pain settling into hid chest at the very idea. That was the life you would have with him. A life where you had to put up with his broken attitude, his broken choices, his miserable outlook, and you were worth more than that. He grit his teeth for a moment as his body tensed up, picturing your lips on his, those childlike eyes turned up to him every morning.  
And then he remembered that amazing farm you had. Your skills in the mines. The respect you had gained as a hunter of monsters. There was so much power behind you and who was he to hold that all back? He glanced behind him with a soft smile. Yeah, it sucked, but he couldn’t even let himself get too torn up over missing the potential you both had. You were hands down the most gorgeous, most charming, and strongest person he knew. Just being a presence in your life was enough to fulfill him. “You’ll survive this town.” He said quietly into the wind. He knew you would. And all he wanted was the opportunity to watch you from afar as you grew into the pride of everyone, loving you as silently and sneakily as you deserved. He might be caught in a abyss but at least you were a small light within it.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve literally never written anything before that wasn’t kink porn so please be gentle and accept my Shane thirst also it's telling me this is the first fic of this fandom lmao i hope so


End file.
